2010 Keynote Summary

“The Islamic Terrorist Threat: Violent and Stealth Jihad”

Session Description
The US faces two types of jihad. The first, which most people are familiar with, is the violent jihad, carried out by homegrown Islamic terrorists or those who are activated by Islamic terrorist groups abroad. In 2009, there were 15 attempted or successful Islamic terrorist operations in the United States. The last one in 2009 was the Christmas Day bomber who nearly managed to defeat a $5 billion intelligence bureaucracy on counter-terrorism. The second type of jihad is stealth jihad—which consists of efforts to infiltrate, manipulate and penetrate our society through legal means of electing officials who sprout the Muslim Brotherhood line, who decry arrests of Islamic terrorists as “racist,” who try to change educational texts to be more sympathetic  to the Muslim Brotherhood, and  who try to infiltrate such institutions as journalism, the military, the prison system and foreign policy institutes. The stealth jihad follows the secret strategy of the Muslim Brotherhood, whose secret documents were found by the FBI a few years ago in a house in Maryland in connection with the investigation of Hamas in the United States.

Keynote Bio
Steven Emerson is considered one of the leading authorities on Islamic extremist networks, financing and operations. He serves as the Executive Director of The Investigative Project on Terrorism, a non-profit organization that serves one of the world's largest storehouses of archival data and intelligence on Islamic and Middle Eastern terrorist groups. Emerson and his staff frequently provide briefings to U.S. government and law enforcement agencies, members of Congress and congressional committees, and print and electronic media   on terrorist financing and operational networks of Al Qaeda, Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, and the rest of the worldwide Islamic militant spectrum. Since 9-11, Emerson has been interviewed frequently on all the major television networks and in the national and international print media. The website of the Investigative Project on Terrorism, which was started in September 2007, is now considered one of the top counter-terrorism websites in the world and can be accessed at www.investigativeproject.org.

Emerson launched The Investigative Project on Terrorism in  1995, following the November 1994 broadcast of his documentary film, "Jihad in America," on public television. The film exposed clandestine operations of militant Islamic terrorist groups on American soil. For the film, Emerson received numerous awards including the George Polk Award for best television documentary, one of the most prestigious awards in journalism. He also received the top prize from the Investigative Reporters and Editors Organization (IRE) for best investigative report in both print and television for the documentary. The award from IRE was the fourth he had received from that group. The documentary, which was featured on 60 Minutes, has become standard viewing for federal law enforcement and intelligence organizations.
 
Emerson is recognized as one of the first terrorism experts to have testified and warned about the threat of Islamic militant networks operating in the United States and their connections worldwide. In a pioneering congressional testimony delivered in 1998, he specifically warned about the threat of Osama Bin Laden's network. Nearly every one of the terrorist suspects and groups first identified in his 1994 film have been indicted, convicted, or deported since 9-11.

Emerson is the author or co-author of six books on terrorism and national security, including:

"Jihad Incorporated: A Guide to Militant Islam in the U.S."  (Prometheus, 2006)
“American Jihad: The Terrorists Living Among Us” (The Free Press, 2002)
“Terrorist: The Inside Story of the Highest-Ranking Iraqi Terrorist Ever to Defect to the West” (Villard Books /Random House, 1991)
“The Fall of Pan Am 103: Inside the Lockerbie Investigation” (Putnam's Sons, 1990)
“Secret Warriors: Inside the Covert Military Operations of the Reagan Era” (Putnam's Sons, 1988)

“The American House of Saud: The Secret Petrodollar Connection” (Franklin Watts, 1985)

Prior to starting the Investigative Project on Terrorism, Emerson worked as a correspondent for CNN and previously as a senior editor at US News and World Report. His first job in Washington DC in 1977 was as a staff researcher for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.  He has a BA and MA from Brown University and once ran a marathon in 2 hours, 59 minutes, a feat he was never able to repeat again.